‘Tax Freedom Day’ falls three days later this year

The day when the nation collectively has made enough money to pay its total tax burden for the year is three days later this year, according to a new report.

According to a report released Monday by the Tax Foundation, this year Tax Freedom Day falls 111 days into 2014, on April 21.

By April 21, to group says, Americans will have made enough to pay the $3 trillion in federal taxes and $1.5 trillion in state taxes — more than they will spend on food clothing and housing combined.

Tax Freedom Day is later than it was last year, due in large part to the slow economic recovery, the tax policy research group argues.

“Tax Freedom Day is three days later than last year due mainly to the country’s continued slow economic recovery, which is expected to boost tax revenue especially from the corporate, payroll, and individual income tax,” authors Kyle Pomerleau and Lyman Stone write.

If federal borrowing is included, the group calculated that Tax Freedom Day would fall 15 days later on May 6.

If further broken down by state, residents of high tax states would see their Tax Freedom Day later than residents of lower tax states.

“This means a combination of higher-income and higher-tax states celebrate Tax Freedom Day later: Connecticut (May 9), New Jersey (May 9), and New York (May 4),” the authors write. “Residents of Louisiana will bear the lowest average tax burden in 2014, with Tax Freedom Day arriving for them on March 30. Also early are Mississippi (April 2) and South Dakota (April 4).”

Historically, Tax Freedom Day has bounced around on the calendar. The latest Tax Freedom Day was May 1, 2000. In 1900, when Americans paid less than 6 percent of their income to taxes the day fell on Jan. 22.